Security industry gives back to veterans

June 27, 2012
ESA announces charitable support of Wounded Warrior Project to help injured veterans

Nashville, Tenn. -- The Electronic Security Association is giving back to the military community. The association, which represents firms that install and service electronic security systems, announced at its ESX tradeshow this week in Nashville that it has selected the Wounded Warrior Project as the recipient of the association’s charitable efforts. The Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members. The organization is currently working to assist veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq who have sometimes debilitating injuries – with the goal of helping them recover from injuries and transition back to civilian life.

The organization recognizes that more 48,000 service members have received physical injuries from the recent conflicts, and it’s estimated that another 400,000 face non-physical effects such as combat-related stress, major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“One of the reasons this charity is special to us is that it is just one way we can also honor our current [ESA] president Dom D’Ascoli,” said ESA’s Amy Kirk, when announcing the charitable effort during the Tuesday night Weinstock-Jackson Awards ceremony. "As a veteran himself, Dom is a proud supporter of our country’s military heroes, particularly those who have been injured.”

ESA is accepting funding for the Wounded Warrior Project during ESX, and is even coordinating the auction of a guitar signed by ESX keynote speaker Kix Brooks, with the funds going to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Update, July 3, 2012: ESA's Amy Kirk said that pledges are still being taken but the tally so far (including $7,500 that Vivint pledged) is slightly more than $20,000. The Kix Brooks guitar was acutioned Wednesday night during the ESX Pub Crawl, with Goldleaf Financial winning the bid at $3,700.